Pro-Trump Florida 'patriots' group 'ready to die' rather than wear masks

[TomCADem]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Sun

A group of Pro-Trump Florida "patriots" said they are "ready to die" rather than wear masks, and said politicians will be "punished by God."

Comments came at a Palm Beach County meeting, when it was unanimously voted that residents will have to wear masks in public to limit coronavirus spread, WPTV reported.

Supporters of President Trump expressed their upset at having to wear masks in public when the mandate was announced by Florida county commissioners. "You're not listening to 'We the People,'" Butch Diaz said.

Diaz added: "You already made a decision. You do not care about 'We the People.' It's pathetic."

Read more: https://www.the-sun.com/news/1031727/trump-florida-patriots-die-wear-masks-politicians-punished/

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This is hardly unique to Palm Beach County, but is merely the latest example of how the Trump campaign has turned public health measures into a partisan issue and how the Trump campaign and the pro-business groups have leveraged Trump-support together with business interests to attack public health measures at the local government level.

Due to the pandemic, the majority of people who understand the dangers of COVID-19 do not speak in person at local government meetings. This has allowed pro-Trump supporters to turn local government meetings into a safe space where they can not only oppose public health measures, but heap scorn and threats upon local public health officials.

All you have to do is tune into your local government meeting online and you will see pro-Trump supports insisting that news of rise cases are a hoax and that wearing a mask is part of some secret conspiracy. Think of the Tea Party supporters who were prominently featured by Fox News as they spoke at townhalls. Now, the new line of attack is to treat local government meetings as a safe space to rail against reality, because folks who believe in facts predictably will not show up and stand in line to speak at a podium where several people have yelled at a board without a mask.

Trump and Fox News have egged them on to create pressure at the local level for re-opening, as well as encouraging people to disregarding public health measures, and the rising case counts are the direct result.